直
Tap the pinyin to hear it
straight; to straighten; fair and reasonable; frank; straightforward; (indicates continuing motion or action); vertical; vertical downward stroke in Chinese characters
- HSK 3.0
- Level 2
- Old HSK
- Level 3
- Strokes
- 8
- Radical
- 目 +3
- Structure
- Top–middle–bottom 上中下
- Traditional
- 直
- Common rank
- #316
- Unicode
- U+76F4
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
Words with 直
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 意大利直面 | spaghetti | |
| 西直门 | Xizhimen neighborhood of Beijing; the main northwest gate of Beijing | |
| 直通火车 | through train | |
| 直发器 | hair straightener | |
| 直流电 | direct current | |
| 直通车 | "through train" (refers to the idea of retaining previous legislature after transition to … | |
| 直道而行 | lit. to go straight (idiom, from Analects); to act with integrity | |
| 一直 | straight (in a straight line); continuously; always; all the way through | |
| 东直门 | Dongzhimen neighborhood of Beijing | |
| 直白 | to speak frankly; frank; open; blunt | |
| 一直以来 | in the past always; for a long time now; until now | |
| 直行 | to go straight; straight forward; fig. to do right | |
| 发直 | to stare; to look blank; to be fixed (of eyes) | |
| 直发 | straight hair | |
| 直面 | to face (reality, danger etc) | |
| 直角三角形 | right-angled triangle | |
| 平直 | smooth; level | |
| 直角器 | a set square (carpenter's tool) | |
| 直达车 | through train (or bus) | |
| 直立人 | Homo erectus |
Sound family
These characters use 直 as their sound component — compare how they read.